NOAA Acting Administrator Kathryn Sullivan sent an email to all of her staff as midnight approached on Friday, telling them that the agency was canceling its furlough plans for employees, including those at the National Weather Service.

The events over the past week, including more devastating tornadoes tonight in Oklahoma and Missouri, remind us how important every single employee within NOAA is to the health, safety, and well-being of this nation. …

That is precisely why I’m pleased to report that this evening the Department of Commerce transmitted to Congress a new sequestration plan. This was possible because of an increase in flexibility in how we use our funding within the organization.

Because of this new development we are cancelling our intent to furlough all 12,000 of our employees.

This is good news for all those who appreciate — and might even by saved by — accurate weather forecasts. But it doesn’t mean sequester constraints are going away. The Commerce Department, which houses NOAA, will now have to find other ways to chop down its budget.